Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 18, 1998

Photo: MICHAEL MALONEY

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PInole firefighters move a hose in front of the remains of a two story building that exploded due to a ruptured gas main. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section of Pinole was completely destroyed.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MALONEY less

PInole firefighters move a hose in front of the remains of a two story building that exploded due to a ruptured gas main. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section of Pinole was completely destroyed. ... more

Photo: MICHAEL MALONEY

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Debbie McNab (foreground) and her son and husband - both named Craig McNab heard the explosion from their house in Pinole and came to watch wearing dust masks. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section of Pinole was completely destroyed when a work crew ruptured a gas main.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MALONEY less

Debbie McNab (foreground) and her son and husband - both named Craig McNab heard the explosion from their house in Pinole and came to watch wearing dust masks. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section ... more

Photo: MICHAEL MALONEY

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John Lyons, a plumber with EBMUD is being called a hero for warning the occupants of the building that exploded this morning. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section of Pinole was completely destroyed when a work crew ruptured a gas main.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MALONEY less

John Lyons, a plumber with EBMUD is being called a hero for warning the occupants of the building that exploded this morning. The Second Fiddle Thrift Shop in the older section of Pinole was completely ... more

1998-02-18 04:00:00 PDT PINOLE -- Pure chance, and quick thinking by a utility worker, kept a spectacular inferno caused by a ruptured gas line in Pinole from turning into a tragedy yesterday.

One woman who would have been at work when an explosion leveled a two-story building had locked her keys in her car and was late. Another was chatting with her daughter on the phone and hadn't gotten there yet.

And authorities credited East Bay Municipal Utility District plumber John Lyons, 44, with saving Amalia Lorenz's life when he rushed to the city- owned building to warn her just before it blew up at 9:17 a.m.

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Four people suffered minor injuries when the building containing city offices and the Second Fiddle Thrift Shop was engulfed in a roar that could be heard for miles.

The explosion at 2101 San Pablo Ave. occurred after an EBMUD crew accidentally cut through a shallow gas line with a backhoe. The workers were trying to install a water main for the new Pinole City Hall under construction across the street.

Lyons, 44, who was working with the EBMUD crew, ran to the building to tell people to get out. He spotted Lorenz, 23, an intern with the city.

"We were standing right on the side of the building. She said, 'How dangerous is

it?' I said, 'It's dangerous.' And that's when the building blew up," Lyons said.

"It was pretty powerful," he said. "I had my back to the building. It actually kind of pushed me into the street. Glass was flying everywhere. I turned around and the building was totally gone."

Lyons, who had shards of glass in his back even as he spoke, waved off any talk of heroism.

"We weren't going to leave anybody in there," said Lyons, a 12-year EBMUD employee. "We figured that it's a job you train for."

The force of the blast sent debris everywhere.

"I didn't see anything at first, then a big concussion," said Lee Reisinger, a local businessman who had made his usual morning mail check at the nearby Post Office. "Then, all of a sudden, c -- started flying all over the place.

"That 4-by-4," Reisinger said, pointing to a stick of lumber that struck the post office, "came whizzing by like it was a toy."

Firefighters sprayed water on the rubble, which remained ablaze for hours until the gas leak was capped about 3 p.m.

EBMUD spokesman Charles Hardy said he was baffled as to why a gas line rupture -- a common occurrence for the utility -- would produce such a cataclysmic result.

When a gas line is punctured, a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crew usually has enough time to come out and turn off the gas, he said.

"We have in the past hit gas lines, but you normally don't get a fire, you normally don't get an explosion," Hardy said.

Four city workers had offices on the second floor of the building and two on the first in rooms next to the thrift shop, which was closed.

But at the time of the explosion, only one was inside -- Michael Dorf, 26, who was on his second day as an intern with Pinole's community development department.

Dorf, who maintains the city's Web site, told co-workers that he was on the second floor when the blast knocked out the foundation, sending him cascading down onto the first.

The stairway and walls collapsed, but a second-floor rear window remained intact. With flames erupting from below, Dorf made his way over a pile of debris and climbed through the opening.

Two people were treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation and released. A 54-year-old woman was treated at the scene for a minor eye injury.

Mirna Melendez, 58, had been scheduled to work a volunteer shift at the thrift shop yesterday morning in place of a sick worker. But she was delayed while talking on the phone with her daughter.

"I was supposed to be there," Melendez said. "Thank God -- it wasn't my time to go, you see."

EBMUD, PG&E and city officials were investigating the incident and were trying to determine the cause of the explosion, said Pinole Mayor Mary Horton.

The EBMUD workers had expected the gas line to be 30 inches underground but were surprised to find that it was only 12 inches below the surface, Hardy said. A PG&E official, however, said the gas line was 18 inches deep.

Hardy said although EBMUD workers snagged PG&E's gas line, it was premature to discuss liability.

"At least preliminarily, it appears that our crew followed our safety standards and did their job appropriately," Hardy said.

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